Archives For Discipleship

Should Christians Pray That Suffering Would Come?

October 10, 2013

Someone told me recently that he had heard that some Chinese Christians pray that persecution would come to the Church in the U.S. I also saw a presentation that includes a statement from a prominent American Christian leader that communicates that he has prayed fervently that suffering would come. Should Christians pray along these lines?

No Biblical Teaching Supports Praying That Suffering Would Come

Those who pray that suffering would come to believers may typically do so out of a desire for the Church to be purified and for believers to grow spiritually. Some may think that David’s prayer in Psalm 139 supports such praying:

Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

These verses, however, do not support praying that believers would suffer; at best, they would only support a believer’s praying that he himself would be tried.

Although desiring the purification of the Church and spiritual growth of believers is commendable, I am unaware of any teaching in Scripture that supports believers praying that believers would be persecuted or that suffering would come.

Explicit Biblical Teaching That Teaches Us to Pray for the Opposite Experience for Believers

Not only does Scripture not support praying that suffering would come, but also it clearly teaches that what we should pray for is exactly the opposite experience for believers:

1Ti 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 

Paul informs all believers that they should pray for all authorities with the aim that believers would lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty—it is impossible for believers to do so when they are suffering persecution!

Furthermore, Paul also teaches us that we should pray for deliverance for believers who are already being persecuted:

2Th 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

Clear apostolic teaching in both of these passages, therefore, teaches us that we should not pray that suffering would come on believers

Other Considerations That Argue Against Praying That Suffering Would Come

Moreover, persecution does not bring about spiritual growth for any of the believers who lose their lives through it. Nor does persecution necessarily lead to the purification of the Church—it sometimes leads instead to the eradication of believers in a specific area because of the unrelenting actions of wicked authorities.

Conclusion

Explicit biblical teaching and other relevant considerations, therefore, teach us that we should not pray that suffering would come. Praying for suffering and persecution to come is not biblical.

We should pray instead for the Church everywhere to be able to lead quiet and peaceable lives that are fully sanctified and dedicated to God. We should also pray for deliverance for brethren who are being persecuted.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Prayer, Theology
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God’s Rebuke of Sensuality among Those Who Worship Him

October 2, 2013

Scripture is our only infallible source of information about God’s perspectives concerning people who engage in worship and the actual nature of that worship. In Ezekiel 33, He reveals to us vital principles about how He should be worshiped through His assessment of the presence and nature of the sensuality among those who worshipped Him at that time.

Among the Jews who were exiled in Babylon, there were those whose worship was not what it appeared to be (33:30-33):

Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD. 

 31 And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. 

 32 And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 

 33 And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. 

God made known to Ezekiel that his fellow Jews were maligning him even while they were exhorting one another to come hear his ministry of the Word of the Lord that he was proclaiming (Ezekiel 33:30).

These seeming worshipers were intermingled with true worshipers and mimicked the worship of the latter. They came as the others did and sat before him as the rest of God’s people did (Ezekiel 33:31).

They listened intently to Ezekiel’s proclamation of God’s words (Ezekiel 33:31a-c), but the true nature of their supposed worship of God was revealed by their failure to heed God’s words (Ezekiel 33:31d). God exposed them as hypocritical worshipers who did not do what He said because although they professed great love for Him, they were actually motivated by their lustful hearts and their pursuit of personal gain (Ezekiel 33:31e-f).

God then called Ezekiel to perceive what was taking place in the hearts and minds of such people: “And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument.” (33:32). The Hebrew word rendered as “very lovely” (that modifies the word song) uses a word (‘Əgavah) that is used in a negative sense in Scripture for “sensual desire” that is “condemned” (Holladay, 264).

Ezekiel thus was to them like a song characterized by sensuality that was ministered by a person having a beautiful voice and playing a stringed instrument skillfully (33:32a-b). Implicit thus in this statement is these people’s appetite for sensual songs and God’s condemnation of that fleshly proclivity.

This statement revealed the essential problematic sensuality of these supposed worshipers of God. Because of that sensuality, God’s words did not profit them in bringing about obedience to Him in their lives, just as hearing a sensual love song sung by one with a pleasant voice accompanied well on an instrument does not.

Through this comparison, God was not condemning those who have lovely voices or can play stringed instruments with great skill–He is the One who gifts people with these priceless gifts. His statement indicts the people who were hearing Ezekiel’s ministry of the Word with the same fleshly orientation of heart as they would hear sensual songs.

Unquestionably, Ezekiel was not preaching a sensual message to them; he apparently then had an appealing, pleasant speaking voice, good vocal production, and great skillfulness in his speaking for God. These sensuality-oriented worshipers were drawn to these elements of his ministry, but they did not have a heart for hearing from God to do what He was saying through Ezekiel.

This account warns us that we must come to hear the ministry of God’s Word with a true and sincere heart to obey Him. To have such a heart to hear from God, we through the Spirit must mortify all manifestations of the sensuality that our flesh is irredeemably bent toward. Otherwise, even hearing a true prophet of God preach His words in His house will not profit us, and our worship will be spoiled by the same sensuality for which God rebuked those among His people who came with that ungodly orientation to hear Ezekiel’s prophetic ministry.

 

For help with issues concerning CCM, please see the many resources that I have compiled: Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM 

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Exhortation, Exposition, Music
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The NT Key to a Fuller Understanding of the Golden Calf Incident

September 29, 2013

The NT provides fuller understanding about many key OT people and events, including Creation, the Exodus, and the ministry of Enoch. In a striking way not specifically revealed in the OT, First Corinthians 10 gives believers the key to a fuller understanding of the Golden Calf incident and its contemporary relevance.*

Prior Revelation about the Golden Calf Incident

Prior to First Corinthians 10, at least five passages give us explicit revelation about the Golden Calf incident: Exodus 32; Deuteronomy 9; Nehemiah 9; Psalm 106; Acts 7. A thorough analysis of these passages shows that the incident was a profoundly important event in sacred history (see the previous articles in this series, which are listed below, for more information).

Fittingly, this prior revelation, however, does not reveal a key facet about the event that is necessary to know in order to understand it fully. God gives us that key through vital Pauline teaching in First Corinthians 10.

First Corinthians 10 and the Golden Calf Incident

Of the two NT references to the Golden Calf incident, Acts 7:39-41 only indirectly pertains to believers today because it is part of Stephen’s defense before the high priest and other Jewish people who accosted and persecuted him (Acts 6:9-7:60). The reference in First Corinthians 10:7, however, is in epistolary teaching specifically directed to Christians.

Because Paul explicitly cites the Golden Calf incident in important epistolary teaching to believers, we know that properly understanding it and its application to us is vital. Moreover, Paul states both before (1 Cor. 10:6) and after (1 Cor. 10:11) his reference to the incident (1 Cor. 10:7) that the account is exemplary for us and was recorded for our instruction.

We must take pains, therefore, to study all the passages about the incident carefully and thoroughly. When we do so with First Corinthians 10, we discover at least three key aspects of the incident that pertain to believers today and need more attention.

Christian Liberty and the Golden Calf Incident

Paul wrote First Corinthians to believers who were facing many problems in the church at Corinth. First Corinthians 10 is part of three chapters (1 Cor. 8:1-11:1) that he wrote to address problems that the Church was facing with issues concerning Christian liberty.

A key feature of the Golden Calf incident was its essential character as an instance of religious syncretism. Paul’s use of that account in First Corinthians 10 to warn Christians must alert us to the profound potential dangers posed by some disputed practices among believers that many regard as involving similar religious syncretism.

Invoking Christian liberty as justification for such practices without bringing to bear pertinent truths from the Golden Calf incident puts contemporary believers at profound spiritual risk. No discussion of such issues about Christian liberty is legitimate if it does not account fully for Paul’s teaching in First Corinthians 10 concerning the relevance of the incident for Christians.

Meat Offered to Idols and the Golden Calf Incident

In First Corinthians 10:7, Paul commands all believers not to be idolaters. He cites Exodus 32:6 as a Scriptural record of some highly privileged people (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-4) who became idolaters in the Golden Calf incident:

Exo 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. 

1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 

By citing this aspect of the incident in his command, Paul made clear that their eating, drinking, and playing on this occasion were all part of their idolatry.

Moreover, the reference to their eating and drinking in Exodus 32:6 is not pointing to ordinary eating and drinking that took place after they worshiped the calf. Rather, it refers to their eating and drinking food and drink that they had offered to the idol.

Based on First Corinthians 10:7, we understand that the Israelites’ eating and drinking what was offered to the idol and their playing afterwards are all key information that must warn us to flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). We must accept, therefore, that the profound danger that idolatry poses for believers involves much more than a believer’s personally doing homage to an idol by bowing to it or engaging in some other related actions that involve only the believer’s body and no other external objects.

What Paul then explains in the rest of First Corinthians 10 reveals just how this is the case with a believer’s partaking of meat offered to idols. In this concluding material, he gives us the profound revelation that is the key to a fuller understanding of the Golden Calf incident.

Fallen Spirits and the Golden Calf Incident

Paul teaches that believers “know that an idol is nothing in the world” (1 Cor. 8:4) and that food in and of itself does not commend us to God (1 Cor. 8:8). He later reiterates both truths through two questions (“What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?” [1 Cor. 10:19]).

What Paul says next brings out the horrific spiritual reality of what takes place when people offer sacrifices to idols:

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils (1 Cor. 10:20). 

Paul reveals that Gentiles who sacrifice to idols in reality offer sacrifices to fallen spirits and not to God! Although neither an idol nor what is offered to it has any innate spiritual qualities to it individually, people who combine the two in a worship context in reality worship fallen spirits—regardless of whether they intend to or not.

Worse yet, not only do they worship the fallen spirits, but they also have fellowship with them! Eating meat offered to an idol in a worship context thus puts those who eat that meat into direct contact with demons.

Moreover, Paul teaches that it is not possible to partake of both the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils (1 Cor. 10:21a). Nor is it possible to partake both of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:21b).

These statements make clear that believers who engage in worship that features any such religious syncretism are incapable of worshiping the Lord aright. True believers who do engage in such actions must fear provoking the Lord to jealousy (1 Cor. 10:22) because they are not stronger than He is, and He will surely chasten them for doing so.

When these considerations are brought to bear on our understanding of what happened in the Golden Calf incident, we learn that all that the passages record of their shameful debauched behavior after they had eaten and drunk what was offered to the idol was not merely human deviancy on display. Rather, their playing (Exod. 32:6; 1 Cor. 10:7), singing (Exod. 32:18; Acts 7:41), and dancing (Exod. 32:19; Acts 7:41) in unrestrained ways that brought them into shame with their enemies (Exod. 32:25) was the deviant behavior of people who had come into direct contact with fallen spirits and been influenced by them to engage in that shameful debauched behavior! 

Moreover, we understand better God’s profound anger with the people on that occasion—they had provoked Him to wrath because their religious syncretism brought them into direct fellowship with demons. Because His people had become profoundly “contaminated” in that manner, He ordered that many of them be executed (Exod. 32:26-29) and would have destroyed them all had not Moses interceded for them (Exod. 32:11-14).

Conclusion

Based on the points covered above, any sound treatment of the Golden Calf incident and its relevance for believers today must account for its being a record of demon-influenced immoral behavior by spiritually privileged people that resulted from their engaging in purported worship of the Lord that included religious syncretism. We must allow God’s profound displeasure with His people on that occasion to underscore Paul’s use of that incident in First Corinthians 10 to warn us to take heed that we not fall similarly in matters concerning Christian liberty because we think that we stand (1 Cor. 10:12).

As I hope to show in future articles, this fuller understanding of the incident has profound relevance for contemporary debates about the propriety of incorporating debauched pagan elements into worship of the Lord.

 *If you have not done so, please read the previous articles in this series before reading this article:

1. Toward Fully Understanding the Golden Calf Incident

2. More Insights about the Golden Calf Incident

3. Leadership Failure and the Golden Calf Incident

4. Religious Syncretism and the Golden Calf Incident

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Exposition, Music, Theology
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Does God Tell Ordinary Believers What to Do Today?

September 27, 2013

For most of the past year, I wanted to participate in door-to-door evangelism through my church but was not able to because I could not figure out a good way to resolve the scheduling difficulties that I faced with doing so. As a result, last year was the first year that I did not engage in that ministry on as regular a basis as I have in all my previous years of being a believer.

This past Saturday, I really wanted to go out and evangelize Spanish people in the neighborhoods of my church. I ended up not going out because it rained most of the day and because I was not able to find someone to go with me.

On Sunday morning, I woke up and read my Bible, as I usually do. After doing so, a thought came to my mind while I was getting ready to go to church—a thought that was not at all connected with anything that I had read in Scripture that morning.

I was amazed that this thought came to my mind because I had not prayed about this matter and had not talked with anyone else about it. In fact, I had not even given any thought that morning to the subject matter that the thought concerned!

As soon as it came into my mind, I realized that I now had a good solution to the scheduling difficulties that for some time now had made it unworkable for me to participate regularly in visitation ministry through my church. I thanked God for graciously giving me direction about this matter that was really important to me!

Thanks to this insight, I was able to go on visitation this past Sunday afternoon for the first time in many months. I even shared with my evangelism partner how this solution had come to my mind and provided me with a feasible way to participate in this ministry when I am not able to go out at other times during the week.

I marvel at the simplicity of the solution that God gave to my situation—a solution that had never occurred to me in all my thinking about how to resolve the problem. I have no doubt in my mind that God told me what to do to solve my problem.

Furthermore, He did so without my praying about it or getting counsel from anyone else. He also did so without my getting any direction from Scripture about solving such a problem.

Does God tell ordinary believers what to do today about specific matters that Scripture does not address? I believe that He who lives within us can and does do so, as He sees fit!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Evangelism, Testimony, Theology
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Guitar Music for “Faith of Our Fathers”

September 24, 2013

Here is a PDF of the melody notes, first stanza, and basic chords of Faith of Our Fathers played in the key of G. Because the song has 8 basic chords in it, it is a good song for advancing beginners to use to learn how to strum and pick a song that is a little more advanced than songs that use only three chords..

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Guitar Music
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Religious Syncretism and the Golden Calf Incident

September 23, 2013

In three previous articles, I treated various broader aspects of the Golden Calf incident, such as the basic teachings of the passages concerning the incident and some of their various applications to believers today.1 This post focuses attention on the Israelites’ religious syncretism in what took place on that infamous occasion.

Israel’s Knowledge of God before the Incident

Through the plagues that He brought upon Egypt, God judged its gods (Exod. 12:12) and showed to His people as well as to others that He was the one and only true God (cf. Exod. 8:10; 9:14; 10:2; 14:4, 18; 18:11). He then gave the Israelites who came out of Egypt clear teaching that they were not to make any idols or images (Exod. 20:4, 23), as the Egyptians and other peoples did (cf. Exod. 23:24).

Furthermore, He instructed the Israelites about the feasts that they were to keep to Him (Exod. 23:14-19). He made known to them as well the altars (Exod. 20:24-26; cf. Exod. 27:1-8; 30:1-6) that they would build to Him and the sacrifices that they would offer upon them as part of their worshiping Him (Exod. 20:24; 29:1-30:38).

Israel’s Religious Syncretism in the Incident

Before the Israelites, therefore, engaged in the Golden Calf incident, they had been thoroughly instructed by God about what they were and were not to do in worshiping Him. Nevertheless, in the absence of Moses, the people congregated around Aaron and demanded that he make for them an idol (Exod. 32:1).

Aaron not only cooperated with them in making the idol (Exod. 32:2-4; 35), but he also made an altar before it (Exod. 32:5a). Moreover, he declared that the next day would be a feast to the Lord (Exod. 32:5b).

When the people, therefore, rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play (Exod. 32:6), they purportedly were supposed to have been observing a feast to the Lord. In reality, however, they were engaged in religious syncretism that robbed God of His glory (Ps. 106:20-21) and was idolatrous worship that greatly provoked the Lord (Neh. 9:18).

Their feasting that purportedly was supposed to have been to the Lord was in actuality the rejoicing in the works of the hands (Acts 7:41) of people who had turned back to Egypt in their hearts (Acts 7:39). Their singing and dancing in what was supposed to have been a feast to the Lord (Exod. 32:17-19) was in fact not worship of the Lord at all but the unrestrained debauchery of people of whom even their enemies were ashamed (Exod. 32:25)!

God’s Rejection of Their Religious Syncretism

While the people were supposedly observing what was supposed to have been their observing a feast to the Lord, the Lord informed Moses of the heinous sinfulness of what they actually had done and were doing (Exod. 32:7-8). God rejected their religious syncretism and purposed to annihilate them for their idolatrous perversion of His worship (Exod. 32:9-10; 1 Cor. 10:7).

Aaron had brought very great sin (Exod. 32:21) upon the people through the leading role that he played in their perversion of the worship of the Lord (cf. Exod. 32:25). God was intensely angry with both the people and him and would have destroyed them all had Moses not interceded for them (Exod. 32:11-14; Deut. 9:19-20).

God’s Gracious Dealings with Them in spite of Their Sinfulness in the Incident

In His great compassion and mercy, the Lord did not annihilate them nor forsake them in the wilderness (Neh. 9:18-19). In fact, He continued His goodness to them in leading them, instructing them, providing for them, and using them for His own purposes in spite of the great sinfulness of what they did in the Golden Calf incident (Neh. 9:19-25).

Conclusion

The Israelites thoroughly perverted the worship of the Lord on this occasion through their incorporation of an element of pagan worship (the idol) into what was supposed to have been a feast to the Lord. The heinous sinfulness of their religious syncretism should cause all believers to take heed not to incorporate elements of debauched pagan origin into any aspect of their worshiping the Lord.

1If you have not done so, please read the previous articles in this series before reading this article:

1. Toward Fully Understanding the Golden Calf Incident

2. More Insights about the Golden Calf Incident

3. Leadership Failure and the Golden Calf Incident

(See all the articles in this series under point 11 here)

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Exposition, Music, Theology
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God’s Comfort for Believers Who Have Lost Christian Loved Ones

September 22, 2013

Scripture provides several passages that comfort believers who have lost Christian loved ones. God desires that His bereaved people have His comfort through their richly feeding on these passages.

The Death of a Believer is Precious in God’s Sight

An unnamed psalmist declares that the death of a believer is precious to the Lord: “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15). Knowing that the death of our believing loved ones is precious to our Lord, we can take heart in the midst of our great sorrow.

God Wants Believers to Have Hope Concerning Their Christian Loved Ones Who Have Died

Paul makes known that God wants believers to have hope in their sorrow over their believing loved ones who have died because God is going to bring them back with Jesus when He send Jesus back:

1Th 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Comforting ourselves with these words, we will not sorrow without hope, as do those who are unbelieving, because we will certainly see our believing loved ones again!

Jesus’ Prayer is Answered Each Time a Believer Dies!

Paul taught that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). Every believer who goes into the Lord’s presence does so as an answer to Jesus’ prayer:

“Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

Our believing loved ones who have gone into the Lord’s presence are now beholding Jesus’ glory that the Father has given Him! Their doing so is the Father’s answering the prayer of His Son!

Although we sorrow and grieve greatly over our departed loved ones, we rejoice also that their deaths were precious to the Lord, that we have confident expectation that we will see them again, and that our Father has answered His Son’s prayer and given His Son the desire of His heart by taking our loved ones to be with Him! May our Heavenly Father use these thoughts on these wonderful passages to encourage many of His children who are grieving over the loss of loved ones who have gone to be with the Lord.

 

 

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Theology
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Spurgeon on Psalm 149:3

September 21, 2013

Verse 3. Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. Thus let them repeat the triumph of the Red Sea, which was ever the typical glory of Israel. Miriam led the daughters of Israel in the dance when the Lord had triumphed gloriously; was it not most fit that she should? The sacred dance of devout joy is no example, nor even excuse, for frivolous dances, much less for lewd ones. Who could help dancing when Egypt was vanquished, and the tribes were free? Every mode of expressing delight was bound to be employed on so memorable an occasion. Dancing, singing, and playing on instruments were all called into requisition, and most fitly so. There are unusual seasons which call for unusual expressions of joy. When the Lord saves a soul its holy joy overflows, and it cannot find channels enough for its exceeding gratitude: if the man does not leap, or play, or sing, at any rate he praises God, and wishes for a thousand tongues with which to magnify his Saviour. Who would wish it to be otherwise? Young converts are not to be restrained in their joy. Let them sing and dance while they can. How can they mourn now that their Bridegroom is with them? Let us give the utmost liberty to joy. Let us never attempt its suppression, but issue in the terms of this verse a double license for exultation. If any ought to be glad it is the children of Zion; rejoicing is more fit for Israel than for any other people: it is their own folly and fault that they are not oftener brimming with joy in God, for the very thought of him is delight.

—Charles Spurgeon, Treasury of David, http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps149.htm; accessed 9/21/13

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Music, Quotes
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“The Heart of the Good News” in Peter’s Gospel Message at Caesarea

September 20, 2013

The resurrected Jesus is announced to be the Judge-designate. . . . Without this point, we might be tempted to think of the resurrection as something tremendous that happened to him but which has no relation to us at all. Without this statement that the resurrected Lord is the Judge-designate, we might believe the story of Easter and comment, ‘Terrific! But after all, that was Jesus. What has that got to do with us?’ Verse 42 [of Acts 10] answers this question by linking our destiny to that of Jesus, for it tells us that Jesus is every man’s Judge. This statement says that the man whom God designated to judge us is the man executed on Golgotha and raised on Easter. If, then, our destiny depends on the verdict of this Judge, we must recognize that the story of Jesus is the story of the one who will be the arbiter of our status before God. Suddenly for each individual, the story of Jesus is transformed from a piece of interesting ancient history to the disclosure of ‘where my destiny hangs.’ This change makes the story of Jesus real news. But it still does not show why this is good news; it could just as well be bad news. . . . These words [v. 43] transform the information about Jesus into the good news for all mankind. According to this early sketch of the gospel, the good news consists of the headline that the Judge forgives those who believe on his name. That is, he forgives those who believe he is really the Judge. Here is the heart of the good news in this sermon: The Judge forgives.

—Leander E. Keck, Mandate to Witness: Studies in the Book of Acts, 68-69; bold added.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Gospel, Preaching, Quotes
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Leadership Failure and the Golden Calf Incident

September 17, 2013

Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 9 document the profound leadership failure that allowed the Golden Calf incident to be the horrific event that it was. God wants all believers to be warned from this incident so that they will not sin the way Aaron and the people did on that occasion.1

Aaron’s Failure to Repulse the People

In the absence of Moses, Aaron was the top leader of God’s people present with them when the Golden Calf incident took place. As an aged saint who was even older than Moses was (cf. Exod. 7:7), he no doubt commanded respect even by virtue of his advanced age.

Prior to the Golden Calf incident taking place, God had already appointed Aaron to be the first high priest of His people (Exod. 28:1-2; cf. Heb. 5:1-4)—whose foremost calling would be to minister to God Himself (Exod. 28:1, 3, 4, 41; 29:1, 44; 40:13). Secondarily, he would minister for the spiritual wellbeing of the people (Exod. 28:12, 29, 30, 38; Heb. 5:1).

When the people congregated to request that he make an idol for them (Exod. 32:1), Aaron failed profoundly in both respects. His recent unique appointment to future divine service should have caused him to repulse them vehemently.

Instead, he failed the Lord and brought very great sin upon the people (Exod. 32:21) by instructing them about what materials they should provide him with to make the idol (Exod. 32:2-3) and by fashioning the idol for them (Exod. 32:4). The people then proclaimed that the calf was their god who had successfully brought about their departure from Egypt (Exod. 32:4).

Aaron also built an altar before the calf (Exod. 32:5) and proclaimed that there would be a feast to the Lord tomorrow (Exod. 32:5). He thus greatly facilitated their great sinfulness at this time.

Aaron’s Failure to Restrain the People

On the next day, the people worshiped the calf, offered sacrifices to it, sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play (Exod. 32:6, 8). Their playing included singing (Exod. 32:18) and dancing (Exod. 32:19) in such an unrestrained manner that they were brought into shame among their enemies (Exod. 32:25). They shamefully rejoiced in the works of their own hands (Acts 7:41) instead of rejoicing in the Lord and in all that He had done for them.

Moses held Aaron responsible for their shameful, unrestrained idolatrous activities (Exod. 32:25). Aaron should have restrained them but instead failed both God and His people by not doing so.

Aaron’s Failure to Acknowledge His Responsibility for What Happened

When Moses confronted Aaron about what had taken place (Exod. 32:21), Aaron blamed the people instead of acknowledging his own failures (Exod. 32:22-24). He even ridiculously asserted that the calf somehow just came out of the fire after he had thrown the gold into the fire (Exod. 32:24b).

Because of his great sinfulness on this occasion, God was prepared to destroy both the people (Deut. 9:19) and Aaron (Deut. 9:20). Only Moses’ intercession spared them (Exod. 32:11-13; Deut. 9:19; Ps. 106:23) and Aaron (Deut. 9:20).

Learning from Aaron’s Leadership Failures

When Moses was away, Aaron and the people sinned horrifically against God. Both Testaments record Aaron’s sin (Exod. 32; Acts 7:40), which underscores its enormity.

Learning from what happened in the Golden Calf incident, churches and other Christian institutions must beware that the times when their top leaders are away are potentially very dangerous times. Top leaders who must be away from their people should pray fervently that their people not stray from God and His ways in their absence.

Subordinate leaders should be very alert at such times that they not fail God and His people profoundly while the top leader is away. Unlike what Aaron did, they must value the glory of God and the spiritual wellbeing of His people enough to repulse any sinful developments that may take place among the people at such times.

Moreover, if they make some bad decisions at such times, they must take proper responsibility for their failures. They must also diligently seek to restrain as much as possible any sinful aftermath that may result in such situations.

Conclusion

God has provided us with the accounts of the Golden Calf incident so that we may learn from them and so that we may be warned about certain aspects of leadership failure and their potentially horrific consequences. Let us diligently take these truths to heart and not allow any such leadership failures or incidents to take place among God’s people in our day.

1If you have not done so, you should read the previous articles in this series before reading this article:

Toward Fully Understanding the Golden Calf Incident

More Insights about the Golden Calf Incident

(See the rest of the articles in this series under point 11 here)

 

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In Discipleship, Exposition, Theology
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